RE: I m so mad. Cell phone stolen!

[DiW]

 
My daughter got a cell phone for Christmas and on her first day back to school (Thursday), someone stole it from the locker room during basketball practice. Another teammate had hers stolen also. Has anyone else gone through this? Any chance of tracking it down? Had a snow day Friday so haven t even had a chance to report it to the school principal yet. SO ANNOYING!
 Diane

[Tim5055]

 DiW
Sorry to say they are not usually recovered.  Just make sure younotify the celular company so they can turn off the service.
 
 When you call ask if there is any replacement coverage.  If not you can try to tell them that as the phone is gone you may need to disconnect service.  As most companies are trying to retain customers many times they provide discounts on new phones.  The key issue is if you have a contract for a minimum length of time.
 
 Good Luck

[DiW]

 DiW
Tim,
 Thanks for the advice. I did shut off service to the phone right after we left practice so that s all set. My daughter text messaged me at the beginning of practice to tell me when to pick her up and the phone was gone at the end of practice. Found out today that 24 minutes were used while C was at bball practice so am trying to trace those calls. Verizon won t give me the info (what #s were called) but the bill was sent today so hopefully it will show that info. Luckily I had just signed up for insurance on C s phone (anticipating that someone might drop/steal the phone) so they will replace it (after I pay the $50 deductible). My daughter is so upset at the thought that someone on her " team"  might have stolen it. The team would like to know if it was a teammate who s stealing things since another phone " disappeared"  during the Christmas tournament.
 Di

[tlhdoc]

 DiW
Hi Di,
 
 Sorry to hear about the phone.  DH had one stole frow his work van years ago.  It was found and recovered, but I think that was a rare case.  I hope the numbers give you an idea of who stole it.  If this is the third one that was taken is sure looks like someone one the team.  Hope everything works out.[>:]

[champ521]

 DiW
Should have tried using someone else s cell phone to call the stolen one upon discovery. Maybe the thief/teammate was still in the area and you could hear the phone ring or stupid enough to answer.

[Gone-Camping]

 DiW
An interesting thing about Cell phones, is that they have unique ringer equivelency numbers, or whatever they call them. That makes each unit unique and traceable. Unless a professional theif is at work who can change the programing codes, this phone becomes useless once it s been deactivated and reported stolen.

[tlhdoc]

 DiW
To bad most theives don t know that before they take your phone.[]

[DiW]

 DiW
As soon as my daughter walked into the locker room, she noticed her stuff was messed with and her $ & phone were missing. Her friend/teammate did try calling the cell and it must have been turned on as it didn t go directly to voice mail. Unfortunately they couldn t hear the phone ringing inside the locker room so maybe the thief got away with it or maybe the signal wasn t that great. After practice, we searched all the lockers and the trash cans. Just got back from filing the police report - we were told to bring in the bill (Verizon says it s on its way) with any questionable phone #s circled and they ll track them down. Hoping it s the same person who took her teammate s phone. Maybe the phone #s called will match up and point to the thief. Wouldn t it be funny if the thief called her friends or home # or something equally stupid?
 Di

[cyclone]

 DiW
This happened to a friend of mine.  She called her number and the thief answered.  Told her he would give it back to her for $50, and made arrangements to meet her at McDonald s.  Yes, this is one for America s Dumbest Criminals.  Well, of course when she met the idiot to retrieve her phone the police were also there and arrested the guy.  Sometimes things actually work out well.  Hope this is the case for you.

[slowpez]

 DiW
When my son s was stolen, he called the police and I guess they were having a slow night because they actually spent quite a lot of time trying to get it back.  They called the cell phone number and the idiot thief answered it.  They told him to bring it back or he would be sent to jail and they would throw away the key.  Would you believe the idiot actually returned it!  Talk about stupid and were the cops surprised!![]

[DiW]

 DiW
Still haven t got the list of #s called with my DD s phone but VZ is rerunning a detailed billing - the general billing doesn t help. They will give me the #s Friday. The other teammate got her #s though and it looks like alot of calls were made to friends of a freshman from the freshman girl s team. My DD plays JV and they share a locker room. We re trying to stay out of the accusations and let the police handle it. Of course, the girls are anxiously awaiting our list of #s because they re hoping the #s point to the same girl. Not a fun situation to think that one teammate would steal from another. The concept of " team"  sports sure isn t what it used to be.
 
 So many kids today are just out for themselves. I remember kids playing together, having fun whether they won or not. Today it s like big business, practice 6 days a week.  Kids fight for playing time as if their entire future depended on it. And some of the parents are crazy, bad-mouthing every kid but their own. We even have a mom like that on my 10yo DD s travel soccer team. Her daughter is really good and would get noticed as a great player if her parents would just shut up. Instead, she stands out as the kid whose father is banned from the field and whose mother will probably be banned next year. I feel sorry for this kid. No matter what she does (& she s really good), her mother yells at her to do more/better/faster/etc. So sad!
 Di

[4Sharps2Camp]

 DiW
They won t even allow cell phones at my son s school. If they are caught with one, it is confiscated. Having too many disruptions in class.

[Ernhrts3n8]

 DiW
I personally wouldn t want my children having a regular cell phone at school.  I am considering giving them my old phone to use for 911 only.  When you deactivate your phone it can still be used to call 911 only.  After seeing what had happened at Columbine High School a few years ago, I may consider doing this with my 2 boys when they get into high school.  This way if it gets stolen it s no big deal because you can t make any calls from it anyway.  If my kids need to get hold of me then they could go use the pay phone at the school.  Just a thought for those of you who are afraid that your phones may get stolen.

[DiW]

 DiW
My kids don t use the phones during the day for chatting, but for making afterschool arrangements. Our kids are bused to school. The younger ones are provided late buses home if they stay late but not the HS kids. Many rely on " finding"  a ride home but I d rather my DD call me. Teens don t always use the best logic - once she took a ride with a kid from her Chem class and she didn t even know his last name because she couldn t find a phone to call home. The office won t let the kids use the phone (about 1200 kids in the HS and it would be too crazy). Pay phones aren t always working or available (none in the sports wing). My DD used to borrow a phone whenever she needed to call for a ride if she stayed after to talk to a teacher, do a project, etc. But she felt bad using up other kid s minutes, esp the ones with the prepaid plans (those calls are really expensive). Now that she s on the basketball team, she needs a ride home 6 days a week and unfortunately, the schedule changes TOO often.  Sometimes you can plan ahead, other times you can t. For instance, when they have away games, the JV has to stay for the V games before returning to the HS. Some of these games are quite a distance so it s hard to predict when she needs to be picked up. Unfortunately, no payphones are available when they return to the HS. Now she calls me when she s on the bus returning to her HS. That gives me time to drive over to her school (one town away).
 
 I agree that phones shouldn t be used during school hours, esp in class. (Just what our teachers need to deal with). In our schools, phones have to be turned off during the day or they will be confiscated. But in an emerg, I d like my kids to be able to contact me.  On 9/11, we had kids in school that heard about their parent s workplace on fire (or worse yet SAW the crashes on TV before the realized to turn off the tvs).  Although there were some phone delays, some kids were able to get through to their parents. Even those kids who weren t personally affected by that day lost a sense of security and asked that phones be allowed in school.
 
 My 13yo son has medical problems and we make him take a phone when he s away from us (except to school where he has access to a phone). One day he was playing bball 1/2 mile from home and I received a call from somebody saying " come quick, J s hurt. He s lying face down in a pool of blood not moving" . Needless to say, I was there in a dash and happy to see him sitting up when I arrived. Luckily, it was just some facial stitches, a broken hand, and a shock to his spinal cord causing neuro symptoms.  J s friends know that an injury can be really serious so they feel safer having a way to get help if necessary for him (as does he).
 
 My 10yo never uses the cell phone as she s always supervised. It just gets tougher when they re older and out on their own.
 Di

[DiW]

 DiW
Well, we got our detailed phone bill and as someone said, let s hope the thief is stupid. Well, she was. During practice, she used the phone to call her home phone. Then she called her mother s cell phone and some friends, then her mom again. Within 2 hours of it being stolen, we deactivated it. Turns out these same #s were called from the phone stolen days earlier from another teammate.
 
 The police have this evidence and are following up on other phone #s as well. Said they planned to charge her with theft. Shown this evidence today at school, the girl has confessed and was suspended. Not sure, but assuming she s thrown off the basketball team as well...Just don t get people. All this to use the phone for 24 minutes of calls. The other parents are really mad and want her charged. He s a lawyer and wants to take action since she did this on At Least 2 occasions...not fun. All 3 of my kids go to the same 3 bus stops as their kids.
 Diane